Polishing machine



June 3%, 1936. 5 DE NAGY 2,945,986

POLISHING MACHINE 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed May 12, 1933 INVENTOR- P June30, 1936. B. DE NAGY POLISHING MACHINE Filed May 12, 1933 2 Sheets-Sheet2 INVENTOR, 3e] 6W3? BY v 70/ ATTORNEY Patented June 30, 1936 UNITEDSTATES PATENT OFFICE POLISHING. MACHINE toria, N. Y.

Application May 12, 1933, Serial No. 870173,. 2 Claims. (01. 15-49) Thisinvention relates to devices for brushing, polishing, scrubbing and thelike, and has for its main object to provide a device of this characterwhich will be directly operated by an air-motor or turbine.

The object of the invention is the production of a polishing devicewhich can be operated with air having a pressure slightly above theatmosphere, as that derived from the outlet of a vacuum cleaner, and mayconstitute an accessory to the latter.

A further object of this invention is to provide a device of the typementioned herein, the operating elements proper of which will describe arotary motion, and which will be eflicient in operation, inexpensive tomanufacture, simple in construction, and which will be adapted to beattached to the usual vacuum cleaner, or other devices generating airpressures.

Still a further object of this invention is to provide a directly drivenrotating device for the purposes mentioned which will, be adaptable tomany such operations of various character, having easily exchangeableparts. With this object in view, and in which the operating part may beeasily adjusted to counteract the effects of the usual wear and to makethe device best fitted for the service desired at any time;

Other objects of this invention will be apparent as the specificationthereof proceeds, and among others, I may mention, to provide a deviceas characterized hereinbefore which will be safe in operation, easy tohandle and manipulate, constructed to operate with slight pressure abovethe atmosphere and at the same time have no harmful back effects on thesource providing the air pressure when the device is slowed down, oreven stopped by outside resistance; which will be double acting, thatis, in which the same 40 stream of air will act twice on the operatingpart of its motor; which will be easy and quick in starting, and whichwill embody means whereby to prevent an undue resistance to act on theoperating parts proper in view of the lower pres- 45 sure of the airdriving the air motor of the device.

With the above and other objects in view, our device mainly consists ofa horizontally placed rotor or turbine for air or other gas operation 50wherein the compressed gas is led into said rotor at a certain point ofits periphery passing through the same and acting on its vanes at thatpoint, then passing through another part of said rotor and again actingon its vanes at that second point 55 and thereafter escaping into theatmosphere, the

brushing, polishing or scrubbing device being directly secured on theshaft of said turbine, means being provided in a housing of said turbineto change the relative distance of the operating element proper fromsaid rotor, and to secure the 5 same in said relation, and means beingalso provided in connection with the housing of said rotor and saidbrushing device whereby the pressure and resistance acting on saidoperating element proper will have an upper limit, after which 10 theexcess thereof will be taken up by said means in the housing of thedevice in a yielding, resilient manner.

In the drawings forming a part of this specification and accompanyingthe same: a 15 Fig. 1 is a semi-diagrammatical plan view of my assembleddevice, the cover of the rotor bein removed;

Fig. 2 is a sectional elevation thereof, the section being taken on theline 2-2 of Fig. 1;

Fig. 3 is a bottom view of my assembled device, and

Figs. 4 and 5 indicate an elevation and a plan view respectively of anelement used with the adjusting means for the shaft of my device, while25 Figs. 6 and '1 are fragmentary details of a modification of thepressure limiting means for the operating element proper of myinvention.

Referring now to the drawings more closely, by characters of reference,my invention is provided with a housing l0 substantially cylindrical inform having an upper compartment II and a lower compartment l2 open atits lower end and a partition wall l3 between said two compartments,said housing being generally of a cylindrical shape and placed in avertical position when used in my invention. In the upper compartment llof the housing, a rotor or turbine l4, having a plurality of vanes I5 isarranged on a rotating disc Ma and is terminated by outer" and innerimaginary cylinder surfaces l6 and I1, respectively, as is well known inthe art. The contour of the vanes l5 may be designed according to theprinciples of engineering science to be most eflicient for theconditions present in the particular case, but for the sake ofsimplicity and saving, I prefer to make them circular segments. A hub I8is also provided for the rotor I4 by which the same is secured on avertical shaft I 9 which for this purpose may have a square portion 20engaging said hub l8. A removable cover 2| may be provided for thehousing i0 and in the center thereof may be arranged a ballbearing,generally indicated by the numeral 22 for the upper end of the shaft H),the specific preferred construction of said ball-bearing to be describedhereinafter.

A second ball-bearing 23 may be provided in .the partition l3, shaft l9projecting through said Second ball-bearing l3 and the lower end 24 ofsaid shaft may carry in a removable and exchangeable manner theoperating device proper 26 secured thereon. Said operating device properis shown herein in the form of a circular brush 26, of any suitableconstruction which will constantly be pressed in a downward directionagainst a surface 21 to be operated on, like the floor of a room, by thehelical spring 26. I again prefer to make the shaft is square incross-section adjacent to its lower end and to form the hub 36 of thebrush device 26 accordnsly. said brush being secured in its place by anut 3|, as will be understood.

The upper compartment ll of the housing I0 is continued in an airconduit 32 through which compressed air or other gas may be introduced,as indicated by the arrow 33 from any suitable source, with a pressureand velocity as desired. For a convenient and easy use of my inventionsaid conduit 32 may be provided with means whereby it may be attached toan outlet opening on the usual vacuum cleaner and my device operatedtherethrough.

Then air will follow the internal contour of the air conduit 32 (Fig. 1)and will strike the vanes l5, as at 34, will then pass through1them in acertain case, that is, at a certain speed, pressure and other factors ofoperation, following the direction generally indicated by the dot anddash line 36 and leaving the inner openings of the vanes at 35A willpass through the space in the rotor following the line 36 and will exitfollowing the center line 31 striking the vanes once more as at 38 sothat the same air current will act on the vanes a second time. For theexit of the air openings the conduit 32 and being spread at that portionof said wall to a certain distance. (Figs. '1 and 2.) It will be notedthat the intersection of the inlet conduit 32, with the wall of theupper compartment is substantially on the same level with the outletopenings 39. In the case indicated in Fig. l the air currentsubstantially will have the limits indicated by the lines 40 and 4| andthe outer limits of its exit are indicated by the lines 42 and 43. Underother circumstances the direction, width, and spread of exit of said aircurrent might be different but it will generally follow the conditionsshown in Fig. 1.

The wall of the lower compartment l2 of the housing I6 is extendingoutwardly as at 44, and is continued-in an outer second downwardlyprojecting wall 45, the lower portion 46 of the wall of the compartmenti2, the outwardly projecting extension 44 thereof, and the outer wall 45forming a circular downwardly open channel 41. In said channel arearranged sectional brushes 46, preferably of the type shown and secured,in a removable and exchangeable manner, to a plate 49 in said channel,by any suitable means. It will be noted that the lower end of the wallof the compartment l2 and the lower end of the wall 45 are normallyspaced from the surface 21.

The brushes 48 are of harder construction and material than the mainoperating brush 26 and it will be obvious that in case an unusuallyheavy pressure is put on the housing of the machine, or the brushes 26receive a pressure inclined outer surface 53 and it 39 are provided inthe wall of the compartment ll substantially opposite to rial andconstruction so that in case of excessive pressure the device will reston said stationary brushes 43 and will still permit the brush 26 tooperate.

Brush 26 may be removed, as will be obvious to all those versed in theart and also from inspecting Fig. 2 and another similar circularrotating operating device secured in its place so that my machine mayeasily do brushing, polishing, scrubbing or any other similaroperations.

In order to adjust my device to the various elements so exchanged andalso to take up the wear of the brush 26 the upper bearing 22 will havethe adjustable specific construction shown in Fig. 2. According to thisconstruction the upper end 56 of the shaft l9 will be journaled in aball-bearing proper 5| of any suitable construction, said ball-bearingbeing again loosely housed in a resilient split sleeve 52 (Figs. 4 and5). Said sleeve has a downwardly projecting is slotted or split at adesired number of places edgethereof downwardly to a certain distance,as at 54. A second sleeve 55 is arranged around that said split sleeve52 engaging the cover 2i of my device by the screw threads 56 and havingat its upper end a knurled flange 51 for an easier rotation thereof. Theinner surface 58 of said sleeve 55 is reversely'inclined to theinclination of the outer surface of the split inner sleeve 52,

from the upper so that said inner surface 58 may co-operate with theouter surface 53 of said split sleeve 52.

In assembling or on starting a new rotary tool in my device, the screwthreaded outer sleeve 55 is partly unscrewed, which will permit thesplit sleeve 52 to open up, and the shaft l9 and the tool at the endthereof, as for instance, the rotary brush 26, will drop downwardlyuntil the brush is in close contact with the door 21 whereupon the screwthreaded sleeve 55 is screwed down, which will cause the split sleeve 52to close upon the ball bearing 5| and so secure the upper end of theshaft'l9. In a similar manner any wear on the brush 26 may be taken up,the lower ball-bearing 23 being of such a construction that it willpermit the sliding of shaft l6 in its inner bore while the fit of saidshaft I! in said bore will be such that normally the inner race of theball bearing 23 will rotate with the shaft IS.

A rubber ring 60 may be secured projecting from the outer surface of theouter wall 46, said rubber ring to act as a bumper for the device.

I prefer to make the rotary brush 26 oval in shape instead of making itfully circular (Fig. 3), the advantages of this construction being thatthe frictional resistance against the same will be reduced, while itwill perform the same amount of useful work, and its operation will alsobe greatly improved by this oval shape of the same since the startingoutside bristles in this brush will always attack new surfaces and willoperate as if the brush would be continuously starting afresh which is amore eflicient and easier way of brushing than if a fully circular brushwould, so to say, be continuously rubbing over the same surface. Thestationary brushes 48 are preferably made in three sectional parts, asindicated in Fig. 3,and

will have the additional purpose, aside from the one mentionedhereinbefore, that they sweep,

brush and clean the floor before the operation of the rotary brush 26,and their segments are arranged in such a manner that they will sweepthe whole floor in any direction the device may be moved. They also maybe exchanged and replaced by brushes of similar or other constructionsand sizes by any suitable method.

In a modification of my device said brushes 48 are replaced by thecaster-like construction of brushes indicated in Figs. 6 and '7. In thismodification rotatable shafts iii are arranged in the extension wall 44of the lower part of my device. said shafts 6| being continued in forks62 in which are iournaled shafts 63 of rotating brushes 64.

The brushes 64 are constructed of such materials that they can replacethe stationary brushes 48 in the relieving of the rotary brush 26 fromexcessive pressure, they also will clean and sweep the floor in front ofsaid brush, while the device may be more easily moved about on suchrotary brushes.

The air will have the shortest exit and most eflicient route through mydevice. It will act twice on the vanes, as has been explainedherelnbefore, and the air will freely pass through my device even if therotor I4 is forced to remain idle which is a great improvement overother air turbines or motors now used. In a similar device as the onehere described, with air motors of present design if the brush 26receives an excessive pressure or the rotor It would be stopped fromrotation by any other cause, the current would not find any way to passthrough the device and would cause undue stresses and great rise intemperature in the compressor or other source of the air, which cannothappen with my device since the air will always escape from the same.

Changes'and variations may be made in the construction of the partswithin the limits of the claims without departing from the spirit andscope of the invention.

What I claim as new, is:

1. A floor polisher comprising a housing, upper and lower compartmentsin the housing. said compartments being separated by a substantiallfluid tight partition, said upper compartment beingprovided on itsperiphery with openings for the admission and the unrestricted exhaustof a current of fluid, a rotatable shaft mounted in said partition andextending into each of said compartments, turbine blades fixedly mountedon said shaft in the upper compartment and arranged to be driven byfluid passing into said compartment through saidinlet opening, saidfluid discharging through said discharge opening, a polishing brushmounted on said shaft in the lower compartment and extending below thesame, resilient supporting means for said polisher arranged to relievethe brush of excessive pressure against the floor, whereby the rotationof the brush on the floor is permitted without sufficient frictionaldrag between the brush and the floor to prevent rapid rotation thereofby said turbine, yet permitting suflicient friction between the brushand floor to effect the polishing thereof.

2. A floor polisher comprising a housing, upper and lower compartmentsin the housing, said compartments being separated'by a substantiallyfluid tight partition, said upper compartment being provided onits'periphery with openings for the admission and the unrestrictedexhaust of a current of fluid, a rotatable shaft mounted in saidpartition and extending into each of said compartments, turbine bladesfixedly mounted on said frictional drag between the brush and'the floor.

to prevent rapid rotation thereof by said turbine, yet permittingsuiflcient friction between the brush and floor to effect the polishingthereof.

BELA DE NAGY.

